


Lemon Meringue

by mandalbrot



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-09
Updated: 2013-01-09
Packaged: 2017-11-24 08:11:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/632301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandalbrot/pseuds/mandalbrot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle comes over to Rumpelstiltskin's to bake Lemon Meringue Cupcakes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lemon Meringue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ydnam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ydnam/gifts).



“1 cup butter,” Belle read the recipe out loud as she walked into Rumple’s home, him trailing behind her high heels with his cane.

“I don’t see why we have to do this, dearie; Granny’s has excellent cupcakes this time of year.” Rumple murmured as she walked confidently to the kitchen, a whirlwind of groceries and determination.

“We are doing this here, Rumple, we always get interrupted at Granny’s even for our burgers, and your pawn shop always has visitors.” Belle eyed the list in her hands placing one of the bags on the counter top.

“Pray tell, dearie, what are we making?” Gold asked hesitantly, eyeing the grocery bags.

“Lemon meringue cupcakes, Ruby gave me their recipe. “Belle smiled looking over the kitchen to find where he hid the bowls.

The kitchen was starkly different than his pawn Shoppe, there was order here. It reminded him of something rustic, something from a time long ago. It was clean, but it rarely reflected who he was. He knew the game. There are no names to be garnered here and nothing to bargain.

“I doubt Granny would appreciate her favorite cupcakes being made in my home.” Gold sighed; he would never win over that old bat.

“I’m not making them for you, Rumple.” Belle turned on her heel and smirked. “You are helping me.”

Gold eyed her skeptically.

“It will be fun!” She said enthusiastically before going back to rummaging through his pantry, taking out bowls, and beaters, and any other object she thought she might need. “Besides some of the best things are when you make them yourself.”

Belle began coughing before she removed herself from exploring one of the cupboards. “How long has it been since you cleaned in here?”

“I have a maid who comes every Thursday.” Gold spoke defensively.

“Who is obviously not nearly as good with keeping things clean as I was.” Belle puts her hands on her hips playfully reminding him of her time in captivity.

“Clearly the only course is to sack her on Thursday, and hire you in the morning.” Gold offered her a soft smile.

“Who is she?” Belle asks. “The Maid.”

“Suzy,” Gold replies thinking of the tiny woman who wears pink. “She was one of Cinderella’s mice.”

“I wonder if they found each other again after the curse was broken.” She says wistfully pulling out a carton of eggs.

“I believe so,” Gold replies watching her closely. He is old, so unbelievably old, but he feels a bit like a boy again, frightened by a whole new world with brown locks and a sweet smile.  
“I wonder what it’s like going from a mouse to a woman.” Belle muses as she grabs the last bit of kitchen ware she needs. There is a part of Gold that doesn’t even remember purchasing them. Regina’s curse was all inclusive, comes to kitchens in a world she never dreamed existed.

There is a part of him that will be grateful that Regina had taken Belle with her when she crossed the lines into this world, and the rest of him will hate her for keeping her as a bargaining tool with the cruelest nature.

“I want to make the frosting from scratch, so you need to prepare the cupcake pan.” Belle hands Gold a trap with 16 cupcake sized holes and then little paper contraptions to go with them. “I want you to make the cupcakes while I work the frosting.”

“And what if I protest?” Gold leans closer to her. She smells of honey and books.

“I’ll be persuasive.” She kisses him lightly on the lips, a bit of him flutters on the inside and for a moment he feels like the world may be right again.

“I may find I need more,” his lips curve into what must resemble a smile.

“Persuasion,” she answers for him.

He may be the noose they’ll all hang from but she’s the one that ties it. His salvation or his damnation he isn’t sure which.

“Rumple,” her voice outs him and draws blood, names are a very powerful thing.

“1 cup light sugar,” he plays along when she smiles, “hand me the eggs.” He removes his overcoat and steps into the kitchen, no longer playing the outsider.

They work together in tandem, a peace that Rumple had only known briefly with his son. He beats the butter and sugar, breaks and beats four eggs, and folds them all in the flour. “I need lemons.” He reaches and gropes blindly on the counter where they were once resting. He looks over to find Belle holding them in one hand while she whisks the frosting with the other.  
“You are a wonder, dearie,” Gold removes the lemons from her hands and finishes mixing. He follows Granny’s written directions and puts the batter in the cupcake holder. He fills it 1/3 of the way just like it says, and then pops it into the oven that he preheated to 350 degrees.

Something curious begins to possess him, something from long ago. He dips his hand in the flour while Belle has her back turned to him. “Belle,” he says her name quietly, barely above a whisper.

“Have you fin-“

Belle had been unprepared for the flour flying into the air and carefully decorating her hair. A dusting of white against the dark mahogany color, and Gold hesitates briefly inhaling and hoping she doesn’t run off in a fit of anger. She starts laughing without reserve and reaches over to the flour and strikes her revenge all over his perfectly tailor suit.

“Revenge is a dish-" before she can finish her sentence the giddiness and joy takes over the two of them and they waste an entire bag of flour in their war of pastry. Belle has the flour caked into her yellow dressed as the smoke alarm goes off because the cupcakes are burning.

They fall to the floor in fits of laughter trying to gather themselves together long enough to take care of the racket. Belle gets the oven mitts and removes the poor ruined cupcakes from the oven. “Oh, bother.” She can’t help but laugh as she puts them on the cold burners on the top. “

“I didn’t-“Gold says hesitantly, trying to guard the embarrassment from his voice. Over three hundred years old and he can’t stop acting like a child long enough to make simple cupcakes.  
“It's fine,” she waves it away with a smile and a warm hug. He can feel the oven mitts that she didn’t bother to remove on his back. She touches his face gingerly with her naked hand; Gold loves the feel of her fingers on his skin.

“What are you doing?” He grins in her luminous face.

“Smearing your face with flour,” Belle begins laughing, and it rings through his almost empty home.

He swears it sounds like music.

 


End file.
